Chapter Forty-three
Nico’s hotel room made every place I’d stayed over the past fortnight look like a hostel. He led me through the suite and into the bedroom, shrugging off his jacket as he walked. His T-shirt followed a moment later, both landing in an untidy heap on the carpet.
I deliberately kept my distance, determined to think with my big head instead of the little one throbbing behind my zipper. “Why did you destroy Wonderland?”
Nico glanced over his shoulder. “Do you want me to say I did it for you?”
“Only if it’s true.”
He slipped off his shoes and reached for the button on his jeans. “I did it for a lot of reasons.”
“Such as?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
He pushed his jeans down his legs and stepped free of them, leaving only a pair of black briefs that did little to disguise the erection already straining against the fabric. “What difference does it make?” He gestured toward me. “Take your clothes off.”
“Not yet.”
He turned to face me, hands on his hips.
I kept my eyes fixed on his face, refusing to be drawn into the temptation of looking elsewhere. It took immense willpower, but I managed it.
He sighed. “Perhaps I did it to prevent myself from ever being tempted back. Maybe living in the real world reminded me what life is supposed to look like. Maybe my hatred for Kellan grew until seeing him behind bars became something that consumed me. Maybe I knew you’d see the headlines, put two and two together, and come running. ”
I snorted.
His mouth curved. “Maybe I thought karma would eventually catch up with me if I did nothing. Maybe I simply liked the challenge. One man against an entire organization has a certain appeal.” He paused. “Or...”
The single word hung between us.
“Maybe I discovered there were plans to eliminate me.”
That sounded far more plausible. Probably with a sprinkling of all the other reasons thrown in.
“A them or me situation, if you will.”
I nodded slowly. “That wasn’t very bright of them considering everything you knew.”
“It wasn’t.” His smirk returned. “Now take your clothes off.”
“What about now?” I asked. “Are you still in danger?”
Rather than answer, he started toward me with a glint in his eye. I took evasive action, keeping a chair between us. “Just answer the question. Then I’ll strip. What can Queenie and Henry actually do from prison?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Their egos are far too big to accept defeat that easily, but I’m not especially worried. They’d have to catch me first.”
“And when they get out?”
He lunged.
Laughing, I darted around the chair before beginning to peel off my clothes as a compromise, throwing each discarded item at him as I went.
He batted my T-shirt away as it hit him square in the face. “That’ll be decades from now. I’ll worry about it if and when it happens.”
“What about Kellan?”
“Given his temperament, it would surprise me if he lasts more than a year inside.”
The thought made me smile. “How do you think he’ll die?”
Nico arched an eyebrow. “Death as foreplay. That’s a new one.”
“Only where Kellan’s concerned. Can you blame me? He was planning to keep me as a pet. He’d have beaten me, raped me, and eventually had me killed.”
“I think,” Nico said, beginning another slow circuit of the chair, “that he’ll struggle with letting go of his superior attitude.” He smiled, though there wasn’t much warmth in it. “Prison, or rather the people in it, will want to correct that attitude.”
He took another step.
“Queenie and Henry are survivors. They’ll adapt.”
Another step.
“But they never adequately prepared their little darling for the real world, where people will say no to him.”
He stopped.
“I imagine prison will be an education, and I expect he’ll be a slow learner.”
This time, when Nico lunged for me, I was too slow.
A heartbeat later, I was flat on my back with him straddling my hips, both wrists pinned above my head.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said.
“Correct.” Typical Nico statement. “You’re not. Not until I’ve fucked you a few times.”
“A few times?” From anyone else, I’d have taken it as bravado. From Nico, it was simply a statement of intent.
He shifted his grip, trapping both my wrists in one hand while he reached across to the bedside table. I raised an eyebrow as he retrieved a pair of handcuffs and held them up for me to see.
He didn’t ask permission. He simply fastened one cuff around my left wrist, secured it to the headboard, then repeated the process with my right. Sitting back on his heels, he took a moment to admire his work.
“Just like old times,” I said. “What happens next? Do you turn off all the lights, invite twins to join us, and then film the entire thing?”
The corner of Nico’s mouth twitched. “I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Good. I prefer it to just be us.”
His gaze drifted to the raven tattoo, fingertips tracing its outline with surprising care. “How many times have you regretted getting this?”
“Every time I arrived in another city and you weren’t there.” Nerves got the better of me as he tilted his head to study it. “Do you really like it?”
He answered with a nod. His hands were already on the waistband of my briefs, tugging them down my thighs and off.
Once he had me naked, he stripped off his own underwear, his cock gloriously hard.
Had my hands been free, I’d already have been touching him.
The gleam in his eye said he knew exactly what I was thinking and didn’t give a damn.
There would always be a part of Nico that delighted in teasing and tormenting. I wasn’t sure how much of that was simply who he was, and how much his upbringing in Wonderland under Queenie and Henry’s influence had shaped him.
“Will you visit them?” I asked.
“Who?”
“Queenie and Henry.”
He looked at me as though I’d asked whether squirrels paid council tax.
“You obviously weren’t listening when I said I’d gotten wind of them making moves against me.”
“I was listening.” I held his gaze. “Only I doubt your relationship is that simple. They raised you in their own twisted way. Nobody would blame you for having conflicted feelings.”
For a moment, I couldn’t read his expression. Then he reached for the lube. “I’m obviously giving you too much time to think.” He upended the lube, making a show of spreading it along the length of his cock. Then he pulled my legs up, baring my hole to his gaze.
“I’d hold them for you,” I said, rattling the handcuffs. “Only…”
“I don’t need your help.” He settled my ankles over his shoulders. “And no,” he said as he moved closer and lined himself up, “I won’t be visiting them.”
A beat.
“Not to reminisce.”
Another.
“Not to apologize.”
His eyes met mine.
“Not even to gloat.”
“Slow,” I said as he pushed in, my voice tight.
“It’s been a long time.” I didn’t ask whether it had been a long time for him.
Whatever—or whoever—had occupied him while I’d wasted time trying to come to terms with my feelings for him didn’t concern me.
I wasn’t na?ve enough to imagine he’d remained celibate.
It didn’t matter.
Only this did. The here and now. Him. Me. An orgasm. Making up for lost time.
“Slow enough for you?” he said as he leaned over to kiss me.
“Yeah,” I panted between kisses as he eased in another inch. Being unable to touch him was frustrating at first. Then he started moving, and the frustration quickly gave way to something else entirely.
“Can you come without touching yourself?” he murmured. “Because I’m not doing it for you.”
Could I? I never had before. But I guess there was a first time for everything. He fucked me harder after that, every thrust bringing me closer to the edge. By the time I realized how close I was, he wasn’t far behind.
The orgasm hit us almost simultaneously.
I buried my face in the damp curve of his neck, my breathing ragged as relief and satiation combined in a heady mix.
“Good boy,” Nico said, his tone infuriatingly smug. “I knew you could do it.”
I couldn’t hold back a laugh. “Fuck off.”
Nico took the handcuffs off without me having to ask him, and we dozed for a while before he instigated round two.
This time there were no handcuffs. I rode him and he didn’t protest when I stroked myself to orgasm.
Round three happened just before dawn with me on my hands and knees, and Nico driving into me like his life depended on it. He came. I didn’t.
By then I was sore, thoroughly exhausted, and determined that if Nico attempted a fourth round, I’d simply pretend to be dead.
When I woke up, the other side of the bed was empty. Panic seized hold of me until I registered the indistinct murmur of a television from the adjoining room. I pulled on briefs before following the sound.
Nico lay stretched out on the sofa in nothing but underwear, a newspaper open across his lap and the television providing little more than background noise. He looked up as I entered.
I perched on the arm of the opposite sofa. “For a moment, I thought you’d done a runner.”
He gave me an amused glance. “Berlin is a little too cold to wander around without clothes on.”
I smiled at the image he’d conjured up. “How long are you staying here?” I aimed for casual. Judging by his expression, I wasn’t that convincing.
“I’ve already been here the better part of a week.” He closed the newspaper. “Another couple of days, perhaps.”
I picked at a loose thread on the sofa arm. “And after that?”
“I’ll probably head to Denmark.”
I nodded, still playing it casually. “I’m guessing you had money squirreled away as a contingency plan?”
“I did.”
“How much?”
One eyebrow arched. “Are you after me for my money?”
I held his gaze. “No. I’m after you for your big dick and your impressive sexual stamina.” I jerked my head toward the bedroom. “I thought I made that abundantly clear last night.”
He laughed softly as he leaned over to drop the newspaper on the floor beside the sofa. “Would it surprise you if I told you I’d been siphoning off some of the Harts’ money into offshore accounts for years?”
I considered it. “No. I’d probably think anyone who didn’t do that was an idiot.”
A memory chose that moment to rear its ugly head. Considering what I’d just learned, it was one I’d rather have forgotten. ”You must have found it hilarious when I invited you to come and live with me.”
“I didn’t.”
“No?”
“I found it…” He frowned, as if searching for the right word. “Endearing.”
“Endearing. Right.” I picked at the loose thread again. “So this is your plan? Just keep moving?”
He nodded. “There are so many places in the world to see. And in answer to your question, I’m unlikely to run out of money anytime soon.”
I studied my hands. “And I’m supposed to do what? Just go home and forget about you?” The question came out quieter than I’d intended, my pulse racing.
He swung his legs off the sofa and planted his feet on the carpet, forearms resting on his thighs. “If you’re waiting for an invitation, you don’t need one.”
I looked up. “No?”
He gave a slight shake of his head.
“So… you want me to come with you?”
“I wouldn’t have let you catch me if I didn’t.”
Fireworks went off in my chest. “So I matter to you?”
A look of amused disbelief crossed his face. “What exactly are you waiting for, Lysander? Do you want me to say I love you?”
My fingers curled into my palms. “Not if it isn’t true.”
He looked at me for a long moment. “Of course it’s true.
” His tone suggested I was being unusually slow.
“Once upon a time, I met a man. A man who, I should point out, was completely preoccupied with someone else. I kept him safe and made certain nobody else could have him.” He grimaced.
“Admittedly, I also took shameless advantage of the situation.”
“You did.”
“But by Wonderland standards, I was remarkably protective.”
“But you never said the words,” I pointed out.
“What happened to actions speaking louder than words?”
“I like words.”
“You would.” He sighed with theatrical resignation. “I love you.” A pause. “There. Are you happy now?”
I couldn’t stop smiling. “Very.”
“You should know,” he continued, “that my love comes with certain expectations.”
“Such as?”
“Not even looking at other men. Being possessive is one of my many failings.”
“I’m not interested in other men. Why would I look at them when I’ve got you to look at?”
“Frequent sex.”
“I think I can live with that.”
“You’ll have to.”
I laughed when he said nothing more. “Is that everything?”
“For now.”
I nodded, a feeling of peace stealing over me. “I would say that I’d go home and pack the rest of my things, but I’m not sure I can trust you to stay where I left you.”
“We’ll buy you more things,” Nico said with a gleam in his eye.
“So… Denmark, hey?”
“Denmark,” Nico agreed.
“And after Denmark?”
He shrugged.
“How about somewhere hot?” I suggested. “Somewhere like The Maldives. Just the two of us in a beach hut.”
He considered it for a moment. “That,” he said at last, “can probably be arranged.”